SALVATORE SCIARRINO
Lohengrin (1982)
- David Robertson, conductor
- Marianne Pousseur, soprano
- Keith Boyer, tenor
- Derek Dahlke, baritone
- Mark Freiman, bass
- Mark Sparks, flute
- Andrea Kaplan, flute
- Carolyn Banham, oboe
- Scott Andrews, clarinet
- Dana Hotle, clarinet
- Felicia Foland, bassoon
- Katherine Evans, bassoon
- Roger Kaza, horn
- Michael Walk, trumpet
- Timothy Myers, trombone
- William James, percussion
- Kristin Ahlstrom, violin
- Asako Kuboki, violin
- Morris Jacob, viola
- Anne Fagerburg, cello
- David DeRiso, double bass
Explore the power of storytelling through music in this month’s Pulitzer performance of Salvatore Sciarrino’s Lohengrin. Marianne Pousseur, whose recording of this work won the MIDEM Classical Award for opera in 2009, plays both Elsa and Lohengrin in this loose retelling of the Lohengrin story from Elsa’s point of view. The work is noted as much for its unsettling silences as for its colorful bursts from the orchestral ensemble, which combine to create a chilling and enthralling tale.
David Robertson, conductor
Marianne Pousseur, soprano: While studying classical song and chamber music at the Conservatory of Liège, Marianne Pousseur sang in both ensembles directed by Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale and La Chapelle Royale.
At the same time, she has participated in several performances of the Théâtre du Ciel Noir directed by Isabelle Pousseur. The stage version of Pierrot lunaire by Arnold Schoenberg has been made into a film, with Ensemble Musique Oblique conducted by Philippe Herreweghe, as well as a CD recording for the label Harmonia Mundi France.
She regularly performs with ensembles such as the Schoenberg Ensemble in The Hague (director Reinbert de Leeuw), Remix Porto, Die Reihe Vienna, and with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, particularly under the direction of Pierre Boulez, focusing on new creative works, musical theatre, and the repertoire of the twentieth century. She was invited by the Festival d’Automne in Paris to interpret Infinite Nero by Salvatore Sciarrino. She also acts in Lohengrin with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, with ASKO (Amsterdam), and with the Ensemble Risognanze (Milan). It is with the latter ensemble that she recorded Lohengrin for the label Col Legno, released in 2008. This recording won the 2009 MIDEM Classical Award in Cannes.
Her theatrical experience allows her to perform as actress in symphonic works such as Psyché by César Franck and in Peer Gynt by Grieg, in a concert version conducted by Kurt Masur with the Orchestre National de France and the London Philharmonic Orchestra .
Collaborating with Enrico Bagnoli, she staged several musical theater creations, including: Songbooks by John Cage; Song of Darkness, a show put together based on songs by Hanns Eisler and Bertolt Brecht; and Babar by Poulenc, with the Leonardo da Vinci Orchestra conducted by Oswald Sallaberger. With the same collaborators, she also designed a staging of L’enfant et les sortilèges by Maurice Ravel.
George Aperghis composed Dark Side for Pousseur, in 2004, created in Athens with the Ensemble Intercontemporain. It was after this collaboration that they decided to work together again on “Ismene,” a poem by Yannis Ritsos, transformed into an opera for solo voice and created in autumn 2008. This performance won the Belgian Critics Award in 2009, and it was performed again in several international festivals such as Musica in Strasbourg, GMEM in Marseille, Vie in Modena, and the Festival d’Automne in Paris.
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Tickets are $20 for general public and $10 for students. They are available online at stlsymphony.org or by calling the Powell Hall Box Office at 314.534.1700.
The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and the St. Louis Symphony are engaged in an ongoing collaboration in which a series of chamber concerts are presented in the Pulitzer building. The aim of this collaboration is to explore with musical means the unique possibilities Tadao Ando’s space provides: an intimate and contemporary setting to experience music, art and architecture. Works are selected by Music Director David Robertson in relation to exhibitions on view and are performed by members of the St. Louis Symphony.
